Tvoc - As you already know, I don’t follow the ‘no excuses’ mantra. What Harlequins lost with Paul and Fa’afili was all-round experience, not just a player of a certain position. Squads such as ours are lucky to have great depth and versatility so that if we do hit an injury, we have other senior players who can offer that experience, and young players who can fill in the position on the field. I would suggest that due to lack of financial investment again, this was not a luxury Harlequins had. I would hope that you understand that a players value is not just in how he performs, but in how he encourages others to behave and in what he can bring off the field. Why do you think Newcastle wanted Buderus back? He offers the FULL package.

For someone who apparently doesn’t suggest that any club could ride such a wave of good fortune alone, in this post alone you have talked about an element of luck in avoiding Wigan in the play-offs, and an element of luck in reaching the Challenge Cup final without playing anyone who was positioned above us in the table. You also say that it’s arguable that an injury (I assume you mean to Michael Shenton, who I will discuss below) turned the Grand Final. Perhaps you should consider whether or not you really believe that you don’t suggest that.

Interestingly, where you quote me (“unless you would suggest that this was all just luck”), I am talking about the Club’s desire for success, a point which you are now ignoring. You talk about Wigan’s “big penalty” of losing home advantage – well, for someone who has mentioned on multiple times now the “no excuses” mantra, I would say that’s an excuse (and have to ask you how that’s a bigger penalty than lack of financial investment, as an excuse). Playing at the Stobart earlier in the year didn’t seem to stop Wigan winning 32-10 either. In terms of luck in the Challenge Cup, I would say it’s unlucky to play ONLY Superleague teams on the run up to the Final.

Again, you have not accepted my point that the Club has shown it’s desire for success, or even mentioned this point. I have made my beliefs on Academy players well know in this thread, and have to ask you about your opinion regarding injections from outside – our CEO signed two players in the off-season (three if you include Briscoe), and we’ve taken Shaun Lunt mid-year. I’m not sure why I would expect GH to come out publicly now and tell me he’s thinking of signing someone in the off-season. Where you quote someone else as saying we had the weakest set of forwards in the League this time last year, do you or did you agree? If you do, a comment like that needs some justification please. In terms of change, we’ve added Richard Moore and Darrell Griffin to the mix – Moore (as you know I believe) has been immense, and Griffin I’m sure will get there after his belting tackle on Harrison last week.

Of course the entire season matters, but I think you understand the point I am making. I agree that a top 8 is too many, but in finishing 5th we only played one team who finished lower than us (quite rightly), and if our mediocrity was rewarded, it’s because we worked our backsides off to beat Huddersfield, Warrington and St Helens. I would say that Warrington and Wigan both had “reasonable guarantees” with the last system that they had earnt the right to contest the Final – Warrington even got to choose their final opponent!

Now to the injury of a St Helens player. I assume you are referring to Michael Shenton, a centre. I find this very interesting for someone who was previously so scathing of wingers/ centres as they aren’t part of the spine. I also find this interesting on the basis that he has been so valuable to St Helens, that they are off-loading him to Castleford part way through his contract. While an injury, of course, has an effect on the game, the measure of a good squad and particularly 17 (chosen by the “fortunate” McDermott) is in depth, which they obviously didn’t have enough of. How fortunate he was indeed to have picked a good 17 and train them to go for any weak spots!! Perhaps the loss of Shenton was more a fortunate excuse for St Helens.

It was disappointing to lose to London the week before the Final, but it’s not uncommon for players to play badly when they have one eye on a Final the following week.

You are wrong to say that the percentage of points won and average score does what it says on the tin. Frankly, you have manipulated these figures by portraying them in a way which suits you and not giving any background. Here, I give the League standings for ourselves and Wigan for people to see this for themselves:

1996 – Leeds 10th – Wigan 2nd
1997 – Leeds 5th – Wigan 4th
1998 – Leeds 2nd – Wigan 1st
1999 – Leeds 3rd – Wigan 4th
2000 – Leeds 4th – Wigan 1st
2001 – Leeds 5th – Wigan 2nd
2002 – Leeds 4th – Wigan 3rd
2003 – Leeds 2nd – Wigan 3rd
2004 – Leeds 1st – Wigan 4th
2005 – Leeds 2nd – Wigan 7th
2006 – Leeds 3rd – Wigan 7th
2007 – Leeds 2nd – Wigan 4th
2008 – Leeds 2nd – Wigan 4th
2009 – Leeds 1st – Wigan 6th
2010 – Leeds 4th – Wigan 1st
2011 – Leeds 5th – Wigan 2nd

We know how we’ve performed over this time, so we don’t need to spend too long looking at that. What Wigan’s finishes tell me though, is that in the years Wigan have finished 7th and 6th, we SHOULD have been beating them every time we played them. But when they’re finishing 1st and 2nd? They have built a formidable team in the last 2 and a half years, and with the exception of the game two weeks ago, we have been very competitive when we’ve played them, which is what we should be hoping for. I also have to ask how seriously weakened you thought Wigan were the other week – they fielded Tomkins, Charnley, Goulding, Carmont, Gelling, Finch, Leuluai, Dudson, McIlorum, Lima, Farrell, Hughes, O’Loughlin, and Lauaki, with three youngsters on the bench. That’s their starting spine, and an “awesome foursome”.

You say the performances have generally been pretty poor since McDermott took charge. I’m going to repeat myself yet again when I say that we’ve had all-round good performances against Cas away (April 11), Catalans at home (May 11), Hull KR at home (June 11), Cas at home (August 11), Wakey at home (September 11), Hull at home (play-offs, September 11), Huddersfield away (p-o, September 11), Warrington away (p-o, September 11), Grand Final, World Club Challenge (Feb 12), Warrington at home (Mar 12), Salford away (Mar 12), London at home (Apr 12), and Catalans at home (Apr 12), and we’re only just over half way through this season. You might look at some of these opponents and think they maybe weren’t the best but I’m looking solely at the way we played – with composure. The seasons where you get almost a whole year of solid performances come few and far between for anyone, we had one in 2004 and that’s what Wigan seem to be doing now. Warrington had one last year, but I would be willing to bet they’d swap it for ours.

Frankly, the day we start operating like St Helens is the day things really start to go wrong – sure they sacked Royce Simmons but if we win on Monday we will only be 2 points behind them in 4th. Do you really think that sacking Royce will automatically make that team successful?

To be honest its nice to have a positive poster on here. I'm kind of split on the subject though, i think while McDermott needs to be questioned for the performance (opposite to what the OP thinks) i agree with him that the criticism shouldn't go into abuse territory. Healthy and non-too-personal criticism is ok, going onto booing during games, name calling and disrespectful comments i think is unnecessary.

I believe Swiftcorn got a bit of a ban following an argument on the VT with an Aussie about Aussie Rules Football and claiming he knew Australia better than a guy who lives there. Don't know if it applies to here though but his absence is greatly appreciated.

Quote: Gotcha "Come on folks. This is another AP/Keith alias. Don't get sucked in.'" It's not really a case of getting sucked in, as others have commented it's remained a civil discussion. I've always been notoriously poor at identifying the men behind the 'characters' but agree it's likely to be one of the regulars. Either way it's provided an outlet for some frustration. Will it change anyone's view - I doubt it. rhinowinorlose probably still thinks Henry Paul wasn't replaced at the Harlequins and that he was always a leading role model off the field : news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 038590.stm I'm guessing the Quins were just grateful he wasn't the chauffeur driver behind the wheel of that Mercedes S280.

Quote: Gotcha "Come on folks. This is another AP/Keith alias. Don't get sucked in.'" It's not really a case of getting sucked in, as others have commented it's remained a civil discussion. I've always been notoriously poor at identifying the men behind the 'characters' but agree it's likely to be one of the regulars. Either way it's provided an outlet for some frustration. Will it change anyone's view - I doubt it. rhinowinorlose probably still thinks Henry Paul wasn't replaced at the Harlequins and that he was always a leading role model off the field : news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 038590.stm I'm guessing the Quins were just grateful he wasn't the chauffeur driver behind the wheel of that Mercedes S280.

Agreed. It's a discussion forum, this is a discussion. Does seem to wind a few people up though - not sure why.

I think in short they players have to take the criticism for the way they play and they shouldn't be exempt from criticism but equally the manager has to take some blame for the standard of play and tactics used in the game.